Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Picture Catch-Up: Birthdays, Buggies, and Sunsets

There are so many pictures that I've wanted to share here from the last month that I've fallen behind. I hate to move on and not share them. So this post is my attempt to catch up on birthdays, special events, and pretty sunsets. Enjoy!

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but Hannah has come a long way from her tired, emaciated self of last summer. After being gluten-free for nearly six months, she finally has a healthy appetite and is putting on some weight, most noticeably in those chubby cheeks. At 18 months of age Hannah was in the 75th percentile for height. By last fall she had fallen to below the 10th. After being gluten-free for 5 months she jumped back up to the 35th percentile in height! Her body was ready to grow, it just needed to be able to absorb nutrients. Her bright eyes and returned energy levels are the great health success story for our family. And she didn't mind her gluten-free birthday cake one bit.

I also snapped some pictures (discretely) of that Amish traffic jam that we get caught in every Sunday on our way to church. It was a drizzly day, but you can get the idea. The white building is the church, with a water pump outside.

In other news we recently had a yard clean-up day, yes those are rubber gloves on my children's hands. They were good helpers at finding and removing trash, cigarette butts, and general yard debris.

After cleaning the yard, we decided it could use some flowers. They have sprouted now, and some may actually survive to be planted outside. Whether they will actually live outside and look nice remains to be determined.

Toby also celebrated his second birthday recently, and was happy to receive his own tool set, although it pales in comparison to touching real tools.

My father-in-law tells me I missed the boat with Toby's cake. He says I should have put a vacuum on the cake. I truly wish I had thought of that . I definitely would have put one one.

We also had a sewing class, in which, miraculously, no one was injured and two pillows were hand-stitched!

And I leave you with two more front-porch-sunset pictures. I can't seem to quit taking them, or sharing them. They are a gift to my spirit each time.

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About My Children

Naomi is twelve years old and is living with Bardet-Biedl Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that can cause kidney failure, obesity, retinal degeneration, and various other symptoms. She also lives with Celiac Disease and multiple dietary sensitivities. Hannah is ten and lives with Celiac Disease and food allergies. Emma is eight and lives with BBS like her big sister Naomi. For Emma, BBS has also caused severe speech apraxia. Toby is seven and lives with one functional kidney. Elijah is four and is completely healthy. They are active, whimsical, and too funny to keep to myself.